SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0925 * SpaceNews 25-Sep-00 * BID: $SPC0925 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2000 * ARISS NEWS * ============== The ARISS initial station gear is now temporarily stowed aboard the Functional Cargo Block module of ISS. The initial station will use an existing antenna that will be adapted to support 2-meter FM voice and packet. The ARISS equipment will get a more-permanent home aboard the Service Module in 2001, along with VHF and UHF antennas. Plans call for amateur TV, both slow scan and fast scan ATV, a digipeater and relay stations. Planning for the deployment and use of the ham system aboard ISS has been an international effort coordinated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The effort began in 1996 with the formation of the Amateur Radio International Space Station organization. ARISS is made up of delegates from major national Amateur Radio organizations, including AMSAT. More information about the project can be found on the ARISS web site at: http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov/ [Info via Arthur Z Rowe (azrowe@juno.com)] * COSTA RICA SPECIAL EVENT * ============================ A group of hams from the Atlanta area will operate from Quepos, Costa Rica (EJ79) for a week beginning October 7 as K4QFF/TI8. Satellite operations will include UO-14, AO-27, SO-35 and RS-13. QSL to K4QFF. [Info via Dennis C. Morris, WA4ZJJ] * NOAA-L/NOAA-16 LAUNCH * ========================= According to sources (e.g. http://www.spaceflightnow.com), NOAA-L lifted off successfully from SLC-4W at Vandenberg AFB at 1022 UTC on 21-Sep-00. It had been delayed several times and scrubbed the day before due to equipment problems, but is now in orbit and undergoing on-orbit checkout by NASA before being handed over to NOAA. The satellite has been named NOAA-16, and is an Advanced Tiros N model built by Lockheed Martin, and carries a suite of imaging and sounding instruments. The two-stage Titan II launch vehicle, serial 23G-13, put NOAA-L in a suborbital trajectory of approximately 2500 x 800 km x 98.0 deg. The spacecraft's Thiokol Star 37XFP solid motor fired at apogee to circularize the sun-synchronous orbit at around 800 km. The NOAA satellites form the POES (Polar Operational Environmental Satellite) low orbit constellation which complements the GOES geostationary constellation, and are the programmatic descendants of the original Tiros 1 weather satellite launched in 1960. They are developed by NASA-GSFC and operated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The mass of NOAA 16 after orbit insertion is about 1476 kg. A recent 2-line Keplerian orbital data set for NOAA-16 is as follows: NOAA-L 1 26536U 00055A 00265.61930214 .00000000 00000-0 00000+0 0 58 2 26536 98.7900 210.3675 0010476 274.6981 85.3501 14.10895524 30 NOAA-16 transmits on a downlink frequency of 137.620 MHz. [Info via Laura Halliday, VE7LDH and Jean Blineau, F6HCC] * OSCAR-11 REPORT * =================== During the period 15 August to 16 September 2000, good signals have been received from OSCAR-11's 145.826 MHz VHF-FM beacon transmitter. The battery voltage observed during daylight passes has continued to increase. The average value observed was 13.8, with a range of between 13.5 and 14.1 volts. The internal temperatures have increased by 2.6C during the month. They are now 3.0C and 1.6C for battery and telemetry electronics respectively. This rise in temperature is expected to continue until the end of the year as the solar eclipse times become shorter. The Z-axis magnetorquer counter reached its maximum value at the beginning of September, preventing further attitude and spin control corrections. During the last two weeks the spin period has varied between 270 and 339 seconds. Ground control operations are now required to reset the counters. The single WOD survey of channels 10, 20, 30, 40 (+Y, -X, +X solar array currents, array voltage), dated January 06 has been transmitted by the satellite. Note the year of this WOD survey is incorrectly displayed as 99. This survey clearly shows the solar eclipses, and a spin period of 340 seconds. OSCAR-11's Mode-S beacon transmitter has been heard in the San Francisco area by Ken, W7KKE. He used a Drake MDS converter, wide band pre-amplifier, and a horn antenna. For the tests, Ken fixed the position of the antenna to the center of the pass, and tracked his receiver for Doppler shift. Signals were weak, but identified by the large Doppler shift observed. OSCAR-11's operating schedule remains unchanged: ASCII status (210 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY SEU (30 seconds) ASCII TLM (90 seconds) ASCII WOD (120 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY ENG (30 seconds) The ASCII bulletin is currently a static message, detailing modes and frequencies of all the amateur radio satellites. There are additional status blocks after each bulletin is transmitted, and between ASCII TLM and WOD. [Info via Clive Wallis, G3CWV (g3cwv@amsat.org)] * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all who sent messages of appreciation for SpaceNews in recent weeks, including: Tim Walker FO3PJ W3QNS KB0CY * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: WWW: http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ MAIL: John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Brookdale Community College 765 Newman Springs Road Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. PACKET: KD2BD @ WB2COP.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET: kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net SATELLITE: KITSAT-OSCAR-25 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> <<=- Serving the planet (and beyond) since 1987 -=>> /EX